


nicest thing i've seen

by thewindraiser



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Trans Male Character, cheesy cheese, the neighbors fic nobody needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 08:46:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6045292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewindraiser/pseuds/thewindraiser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daichi hates his new apartment building, he hates the centenarian heating system, hates the narrow stairs and the elevator that almost never works.<br/>And did he mention that the walls are so thin he can hear his hot neighbor have sex? No? Well, to be fair, he doesn't know if that's the thing he hates most, or what he hates least. His neighbor really is hot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nicest thing i've seen

Daichi hates his new apartment building.

It’s a skyscraper-like monstrosity, with a not always – meaning never - working elevator and too narrow stairs that force people to flatten themselves to wall and rail if they have the misfortune of crossing each other. Seventeen floors of ratty, small apartments, pipes and heating system probably dated pre-Shouwa era, and paper-thin walls. Daichi hates it but it’s all he could afford with his salary, if a term like salary can even be used in reference to the bunch of coins they give him as an intern for a not-so-minor law firm.

Ok now technically that is not true, he could have afforded something else, he had a couple more options, hardly more fancy than this place but closer to the metro at least. But the choice had been made for him as soon as he’d laid eyes on his would-be neighbor. That’s how the apartment owner, Ishikawa-san, had called him when he’d noticed where Daichi’s gaze had been fixed for over two minutes.

In his defense, in the 26 years of his life Daichi had never quite seen an ass that fine before.

Perfectly round and perky, clad in wonderfully tight grey jeans and _wiggling_ right in front of his eyes. The sight of it had burned Daichi’s retinas and imprinted itself in his brain, in an instant. Then Ishikawa-san had called out to the guy and when _he_ ’d straightened up and turned around to face them, Daichi’s greeting had tied itself in knots along with his tongue.

Fifteen minutes later Daichi was shaking Ishikawa-san’s hand and informing him he’d move in within the week.

And that’s the story of how Daichi found himself living in the building from hell.

But it’s hardly over.

 

** Day 1 **

Moving is stressful - and water is wet.

It takes half a day, four people and fifteen trips each to get all of Daichi’s stuff up to his new apartment. The elevator stops working in the middle of it, thankfully while no one is inside, and they have to drag boxes and furniture up the stairs the entire afternoon. Nobody backs off, or comes up with lame excuses to escape it and this, more than anything else, proves to Daichi how loyal his friends are.

They manage to open a good deal of boxes through the day and Daichi offers to pay for all their drinks next time they go out. His words are welcomed by inappropriate catcalling and blown kisses. They really are all broke.

Tanaka and Noya leave by seven, with the promise to come back tomorrow to help some more, and Asahi follows an hour later, after running down to his car and fetching some sandwiches he’d made for the day.

“You eat them, Daichi. You look too tired to go grocery shopping now.”

He is right, of course he is, and with a last grateful smile and a pat on the back Daichi walks him to the door and watches him leave.

He throws a glance at the door across from him, the shiny silver tag under the peephole saying in a curly, messy handwriting ‘’Sugawara K.’’ and sighs wistfully. He had low-key hoped he’d get to see his neighbor today, maybe properly greet him, _without stammering_ , but no such luck.

He closes the door behind him, eats Asahi’s – delicious – sandwiches and throws himself on the bed, only piece of furniture already assembled and ready to use.

The silence closing in around him feels almost oppressive and the shadows cast by the piles of boxes make the place look even smaller. Daichi shuts his eyes and hopes that this loneliness won’t seep into his dreams.

 

It’s late and he is in the deeper states of sleep when a noise wakes him. Or rather, several noises.

“ _Oh, yes. Right there…_ ”

Daichi blinks in the darkness and for a moment he thinks he’s still asleep.

Then the thud of something slamming against the wall – _his_ wall – makes him jump and sit upright on the bed.

“ _Mmm, that’s good._ ”

Daichi’s breath hitches in his throat as he recognizes the voice. He’d only heard it once, exactly a week ago when they’d first introduced themselves but that breathy quality, the slight drag of the vowels, that’s unquestionably his very attractive neighbor’s voice. Sugawara-san’s.

Another thud. Another moan.

A shiver runs down Daichi’s spine and makes the skin of his arms break in goosebumps.

He gets up and turns on the light, as if this somehow could kill the mood, free his place from ‘’sin’’ like his insufferably religious grandma would say. With hurried steps he walks across the apartment – not unlike a headless chicken - and after much aimless wandering and even more painful bumping into boxes he settles in the kitchen. He stands near the fridge, simply staring into nothing for a moment, then decides to eat the last of Asahi’s sandwiches just to give himself something to do.

His ears are red, he knows, and so are his cheeks and his neck. He feels the burning heat of his flush, spreading everywhere, pooling south. _It’s been so long since…_

 His heart is beating fast and he aggressively bites and munches the sandwich in an attempt to ignore it. He might as well be chewing on ashes, that’s how everything tastes now. He wonders how Sugawara-san tastes, if his beautiful, creamy skin would feel as soft as it looks under Daichi’s lips.

He can still hear _them_ from where he is standing, his ears unconsciously trying to pick up every shift, every vibration. It’s faint, but the semi-open space of his apartment allows noise to fill every corner, and this noise in particular, it seems to echo as if they were all in an empty cave.

It echoes in Daichi’s head too, that beautiful, clear voice wrecked and breathless with pleasure. Daichi’s eyes fall shut for a second and when another moan reaches his ears his cock twitches in interest.

Before he can think much about how creepy what he is doing is, he doesn’t _want_ to think much about it, Daichi walks back to his bedroom.

The moans are getting higher, no more words uttered, just encouraging, pleading sounds.

A second voice joins in, low and deeper, and Daichi’s stomach drops in something that feels too much like disappointment.

“ _Come on, now!_ ”

The sandwich falls on the floor and Daichi sits on the bed again, his legs too weak to support him.

_That voice_. Daichi does his best to breath – to exist - as quietly as possible.

But it’s over soon after that, after Sugawara-san’s _order_ , and when the silence stretches on the entire floor Daichi is forced to deal with two things: his raging boner, straining the seams of his sweatpants, and the knowledge that Sugawara-san gets bossy when he’s being fucked.

And Daichi likes it. A little too much.

 

In the morning Daichi’s doorbell rings and in his exhaustion he’s ready to tell whoever it is to fuck off and come back later, but when he opens the door he finds himself face to face with Sugawara-san. The curse dies on his lips.

Sugawara-san looks radiant in sunlight and his smile is impossibly beautiful as he greets him. Before Daichi can utter a single word, Sugawara-san is already pushing a carton pink bakery box in his hands.

“These are for you!” he declares with a little too much emphasis.

Daichi jumps, startled, and Sugawara-san clears his throat, apologizes and continues in a lower volume, “I know you’re supposed to give, like, lasagna or pasta in these cases but truth be told i’m kind of lousy at cooking, i only know how to bake so i decided to make cupcakes. For you. Of course they’re for you i already said that, so um…welcome to the neighborhood, Sawamura-san!”

He says it all in one breath, and by the end of his speech he is a little pink in the cheeks. Daichi wishes he could say he’s not completely and utterly charmed by the picture Sugawara-san makes, hair a mess and clearly embarrassed by  his own awkwardness, but that would be a big, fat lie.

He is so charmed he feels like the pumpkin from Cinderella.

He only has the time and promptness of mind to stammer a ‘thank you’ before Sugawara-san all but runs back to his apartment and closes the door behind him with surprising force.

 

The cupcakes turn out to be delicious.

 

** Day 9 **

Daichi is on his way to get his mail when a loud whoop reaches his ears and threatens to almost make him tumble down the last flight of stairs.

He’s unbelievably glad he manages to hold on the rail and make it down alive because once in the lobby he is greeted by a real sight.

Sugawara-san is standing in the middle of the room, near the mailboxes, and dancing to a music only he can hear. Well, more than dancing he is swinging his hips provocatively and throwing his hands in the air in celebration.

He is holding a letter in his hand.

Daichi grants himself a moment to simply stand there and watch him, eyes following the beautiful curve of Sugawara-san’s waist and hips, mouth agape. Then someone behind him clears their throat pointedly and the moment is over. Daichi starts, feeling very much like a kid caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

An incredibly small, old woman gestures for him to move with an imperious flick of wrist and walks past the both of them with her nose so high up in the air it’s surprising she can still see where she’s going.

“Good morning, Hamada-san…” Sugawara-san tries a polite greeting, but the old woman just lets out a rude snort and closes the front door in both their faces.

Sugawara-san sighs then straightens his shoulders and turns around to face Daichi. They bow at the same time and if the redness of Sugawara-san’s face is any clue Daichi would bet he is almost, if not more, embarrassed than Daichi is.

“Good morning, Sawamura-san.”

“Good morning to you too, Sugawara-san.”

They stand in silence for a moment or two then Daichi moves to finally get his mail. His mailbox is right next to Sugawara-san’s. He doesn’t know why it’s important, he doesn’t know why he cares. He hears steps moving in the direction of the stairs and can’t help but let out a sigh, strangely upset. He knows too well why he cares. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, start a conversation maybe and make Sugawara-san stay a little longer. Even the weather will do, if he could just say something.

_You sound so good when you come_ , resonates in his brain and Daichi has to refrain from smashing his face against his mailbox. _Maybe not that…_

“I’m sorry.”

Of course it’s Sugawara-san who speaks first. _Thank goodness_.

Daichi looks at him, and the confusion must be easy to read on his face because Sugawara-san attempts an awkward smiles and explains, “For my little…show. Just now. I thought i was alone.”

“No, don’t…don’t apologize, please. I, um-“

“It must have been really embarrassing for you-”

“It wasn’t, really.”

 “I just. I got so excited and i dance when i’m excited, i’m sorry you had to see-”

“It’s fine, i swear. I liked it!”

_Oh shit._

Now he’s the one who is mortified. What a complete tool.

Sugawara-san is looking at him like he just sprouted a second head and never in his life has Daichi wished so ardently that the earth he is named after would just swallow him whole. He needs to fix this now, before Sugawara-san realizes what a creep he is and gets a restraining order. He needs a good _lie_.

“I mean, i didn’t _like_ -like it i just thought, um, i thought it was cute. Adorable! Adorable, and i’m…happy you received good news.”

Daichi is _sweating_. Were all the people who ever praised him for how sound and stoic he is lying all along, taking the piss? Or maybe, maybe it just takes a pretty face for him to crumble, be reduced to a pathetic, babbling, sweaty mess of jumbled thoughts.

It’s a _very_ pretty face, tho.

Especially now, in this light, and wearing such an open expression. Sugawara-san throws a glance at him through the lovely fan of his eyelashes and smiles, soft and slow. Unbearably pretty. He has a dimple in the right corner of his mouth.

“Thank you, Sawamura-san. That’s…sweet.”

His words hang in the air between them and it would be a good note to end a conversation on but Daichi doesn’t really want this conversation to be over quite yet, so he asks, “What was the good news?”

Sugawara-san’s smile turns into a beam. “My advisor approved the subject of my doctoral dissertation, that’s all.”

Daichi grins back and feels the tension melt away at once. “Congratulations! What is it?”

“The evolution of sign language, how it varies by region and the differences between the Japanese and Neo-Latin ones.”

Daichi has absolutely no clue what that means but he is not lying when he says it sounds interesting. Not something he would have ever considered studying, linguistics, but still interesting.

Sugawara-san laughs and his expression turns strangely knowing, “I wasn’t planning on studying this either, but life has a way of mixing and messing up your plans, don’t you think Sawamura-san?”

He is not just talking of university and the intensity with which he is looking at Daichi suggests he is not just talking about himself either. “Sometimes you find yourself in such an unexpected place you can’t even remember where you started, or where it is that you were supposed to be.”

All Daichi can do now is nod, stripped bare by the easy truth of these words.

****

** Day 17 **

It’s a cool day of October and after eight hours of work Daichi is ready to faceplant on the bed and never rise again.

He walks past the lobby and catches sight of a gleam of silver between the closing doors of the elevator. His traitorous heart speeds up and in the impulse of a moment he yells “Hold it!”

He sure hopes he didn’t just book an elevator trip with Hamada-san.

The hand that gets between the doors is blissfully smooth and pale, and indeed it’s Sugawara-san’s breathtaking smile that greets him as they fall open again.

“Good evening, Sawamura-san.”

“And to you, Sugawara-san.”

They nod at each other and exchange more pleasantries, and it’s relaxed in a way their past interactions have never really been. They are probably too tired to even tense up, Daichi knows he is.

Sugawara-san talks a little more about his doctorate and gestures to the pack of papers in his hands. He has to grade them all between tonight and tomorrow, he says, and Daichi can’t hide a sympathetic, mildly horrified wince. Sugawara-san looks exhausted too under the unforgiving neon light of the elevator, the dark circles under his eyes even more evident in contrast to his pale skin.

“But what about you, Sawamura-san? What do you d-”

The elevator stops, so abruptly Sugawara-san loses his footing and has to cling onto Daichi not to fall. The lights go out, and around them everything turns dark.

_No, no, no._

“Fuck!”

Sugawara-san curses, and when he regains his balance he moves away with an embarrassed apology. Then curses again, this time in what Daichi thinks might be french. He presses the emergency button and one of the lights flickers to life again. The elevator, on the other hand, stays stubbornly still.

_No. No. No._

A wave of heat hits Daichi all at once and he feels dizzy with it, he feels hot. He feels hot and his skin is prickling, pins and needles mercilessly biting every inch of his body. He loosens his tie with trembling fingers and gets off his jacket.

Sugawara-san is busy picking up his papers and when he sees Daichi’s jacket fly to the floor he looks up, startled. Daichi can’t quite meet his eyes so he simply leans on the wall behind him and concentrates on breathing.

In and out. The elevator will move soon.

But what if it doesn’t? They could be stuck here for hours, and run out of air. What if they run out of air?

In and out. Help will come.

Sure it will, but when?

Daichi’s lungs burn in his ribcage and he gulps down more air in an attempt to relieve them. It doesn’t work. His heart is beating fast, too fast, and the knowledge that he is losing control only serves to make it slip away faster.

Cool hands wrap around his wrists.

“Sawamura-san, look at me please?”

Daichi tries not to but when Sugawara-san tugs at his arms he acquiesces, does as he’s told. Sugawara-san looks completely calm, his expression relaxed and his eyes fixed in his, dark and luminous like a starry night sky. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

_What’s wrong? What could possibly be wrong?_

Daichi’s temper rises, as sudden as his panick.

“Well, let’s see we’re stuck in a fucking elevator for one, this building is old as shit for two, we don’t know when help is going to come for three…do i have to keep going?”

He is panting and every word seems to weigh him down.

“I pulled the button, help shouldn’t be far.”

“Oh well if you say so.”

Daichi gets mean when he is nervous, he knows. Now he doesn’t care either. Sugawara-san on his part seems unfazed by his outburst. “Last time i got stuck here they arrived in fifteen minutes.”

_Fifteen minutes is good. It’s soon._

Only now Daichi notices Sugawara-san has been tracing circles on the inside of his wrists, thumbs skimming past his pulse point and stroking the tender skin gently. “W-why do you still take this damn thing then?”

A quick, cheeky smile is thrown his way. “Because i’m a lazy old fart.”

Daichi snorts out a laugh despite himself, but the tightness in his throat hasn’t eased down yet.

“Help will be here soon,” Sugawara-san says again, “they know this place like the back of their hands from all the times they’ve visited.”

_But what about the air?_

“Besides, this elevator has a hatch that can be opened from the inside too. It’s a pretty uncommon thing but if we run out of air we can always open it.”

Daichi’s mouth drops open at his words and Sugawara-san smiles again, this time softer, but doesn’t offer any explanations to his apparent mind-reading abilities. Instead, he squeezes Daichi’s wrists a little and asks “Why don’t we keep those breathing exercises up?”

 

Aid comes ten minutes later and this, along with Suga-san’s presence, helps Daichi breathe a little more easily.

They are both sitting down now, legs crossed and facing each other. Their knees bump from time to time and the hold Suga-san has on him, on his hands, is incredibly comforting.

“So, you were saying about your scar?”

Suga-san lets go of Daichi for a moment to show him the scar on his palm. It almost gleams in the light, so it must be pretty old. It’s shaped like a half moon. There’s a nostalgic look in Suga-san’s eyes as he stares at it, hidden behind the obvious embarrassment. “I was chasing a butterfly.”

For a moment Daichi is sure he heard wrong. “A butterfly?”

Suga-san huffs and shrugs his shoulders, self-conscious. “I was in the backyard of my grandma’s house. It was a beautiful space, not big by any means but sunny even under the darkest clouds and there were flowers in every corner, some of their stems so high they’d reach my shoulders. Grandma had taken care of that garden for over sixty year, like it was her own child.”

Suga-san’s voice breaks a hint and he clears his throat to cover it up. “The little patch of violets, tho, that was our favourite corner. In hanakotoba violets mean honesty, you know? And honesty was the thing my nana cherished the most.”

He’s smiling now, but while the corners of his mouth are sad his eyes are only filled with affection and warmth. “Without honesty, you can’t ever give yourself to another person. That’s what she used to say.”

Daichi takes Suga-san’s hand in his, now it’s his turn to, and gives it a comforting squeeze. Suga-san’s eyes fall on their joined fingers and with a quick, grateful look and a nod he keeps going. “She was really sick at the time, pneumonia. So i was making her a flower crown to cheer her up – i still remember it was violets, carnations and baby’s breath-  and suddenly a butterfly landed on my hand.”

_Of course it did_ , Daichi thinks to himself. Surrounded by flowers, it chose to perch on something even more beautiful.

“It was a pretty one too! Orange with black patterns. I thought maybe i could catch it and show it to nana.” He bites his lip and glances at Daichi guiltily, looking so much like a kid again. The boy that chases butterflies.

“Now i know people shouldn’t do that, butterflies are so delicate, so maybe it was karma that made me trip on a root as i was running to catch it…”

The silence that drags on at the end of the tale makes Suga-san fidget, embarrassed, but Daichi can’t think of a single thing to say. It happens so often when he’s around this man. He follows the pretty flush spreading on Suga-san’s cheeks with his eyes, and this too is as endearing as his story.

In this exact moment Daichi knows he’s fucked.

“I know, it’s stupid.”

It’s so not stupid. It’s sweet and incredibly lovely, maybe a little silly, in the way most childhood stories are but not stupid. Never stupid. But before Daichi can voice his thoughts, the elevator comes to life again.

It’s only when the doors fall open and a bunch of strangers greet them with apologies and relieved huffs that they realize they are still holding hands.

 

** Day 25 **

There’s a cat in Daichi’s sink.

Daichi does _not_ have a cat.

He stares for a moment, incredulous, and the cat stares back at him. Then gets back to licking its paw. The cat, that is.

Daichi looks around in search for answers and finds none. All the windows in his house are closed but even if they weren’t, he reasons, they are on the ninth floor, there’s no way a kitten could have climbed this high. So unless he’s been growing a cat in his house for almost a month, the kitten must have gotten in when he went out grocery shopping. Over two hours ago.

It is small enough to go unnoticed, walk past a person’s legs easily but still. Daichi had a cat in his house for two hours and didn’t even notice. They really have him working too much at the firm.

He shrugs, takes a beer from the fridge and goes back to watching FRIENDS on Netflix. He can’t exactly knock on every door and ask everyone in the building if they own a small, incredibly cute and fluffy kitten. Well, he could but he’s too tired now. And he can’t just let the kitten out. What if it goes outside? It could get hit by a car. So Daichi leaves it where it is, with the intention of dealing with it later. Maybe the owner will come looking for it.

He’s halfway through the episode where Joey and Rachel have their friendly date and Joey realizes he has feelings for her when the kitty decides it’d rather have some company. Comes running in the room and settles close, right on Daichi’s slippers.

They get through the end of the episode without incidents and Daichi has really come to appreciate the little fella’s quiet nature when the doorbell rings.

It’s Suga-san, looking both close to tears and ready to set the earth ablaze. “Daichi-san i’m sorry to bother you but have you by any chance seen a- Mister Whiskerson!”

The kitten, who had apparently followed Daichi to the door, meows cutely and leaps in Suga-san’s arms. And Daichi had always thought only dogs did that…

It’s a moving scene, with the kitten smushing his face against Suga-san’s and Suga-san laughing brightly, dimples galore and cooing. But…Mister Whiskerson? Daichi knows that name.

“FRIENDS?”

Suga-san looks up at him, finally, his brow furrowed in confusion for a moment. Then he follows Daichi’s gaze, pointedly fixed on the cat before those dimples cause him a heart failure, and he brightens up even more. “Yes, it is! Do you watch it too Daichi-san?”

Daichi makes a vague gesture to his apartment. “I was actually watching it now.”

And soon enough he finds himself watching the next five episodes with Suga-san, Mister Whiskerson and Suga-san’s other two cats who, he learns, don’t like to ‘’be left out of things’’.

One of them is a pretty old tabby cat with a missing eye. She’s very friendly and sits on Daichi’s lap for the entire evening, purring softly every time Daichi so much as touches her. Her name is Miss Chanandler Bong and when Daichi hears it he almost can’t believe it.

He points at the last of Suga-san’s cats, a beautiful Ragdoll with huge, azure eyes and jokes “And let me guess, this one is Regina Phalange.”

Suga-san looks down at the floor, guiltily, as a blush eats his face and Daichi almost busts a gut laughing.

_This man…_

 

“I don’t believe in soulmates either. I don’t think that you and I were destined to end up together. I think that we fell in love and that we work hard at our relationship. Some days we work really hard.”

He and Suga recite the line together, perfectly in sync with Monica, and then snort at Chandler’s mozzarella sticks.

“Seriously tho, can you imagine the stink in that house of cheese…”

Daichi looks at Suga and Suga looks back at him and it only takes a beat before they’re both bent in two from laughing, again. The cats all start and Miss Chanandler Bong lets out an annoyed huff and gets off of Daichi’s lap, her tail flicking with indignation.

“God, Chandler is the best,” Daichi says, dabbing his tears with the sleeve if his shirt.

“Mondler is the best,” Suga replies, and Daichi can only solemnly agree at the truth of his statement. Mondler really is the best.

“I never understood the hype for Ross and Rachel, to be honest,” Suga continues, his hands moving around to emphasize his words, “i mean i could see it in earlier season but by season 7 i was like, enough already! Just move on you two!”

Daichi is rendered speechless for a moment, simply stares at the man in front of him, and Suga must misunderstand his silence because he starts to fidget a little and apologize. “I’m sorry, if you like them together then it’s your tast-”

Daichi leans over and puts his hands on Suga’s shoulders, mystified. He’s waited so long for this moment, now that it’s finally here he can’t even find the words. “No, no. I feel the exact same way!”

Suga’s eyes widen in comical surprise and then he beams, brighter than the sun. It catches Daichi completely off guard and for a moment he has to look away, turn his gaze to sights that won’t blind him, cast a light that his wasted heart cannot bear.

 

** Day 46 **

It’s been well over a month since Daichi moved in the building from hell. The elevator still only works two days out of seven, Hamada-san – the old lady who lives downstairs – still refuses to answer Daichi’s greetings, and he can still hear Suga have sex through his bedroom wall.

But, he has to admit now, it’s not all bad.

Now whenever he meets Suga they stop for conversation. It’s nice, and he’s constantly left amazed at how easy it comes to them to talk about the most various things. More often than not – more often than he’d like to admit – as even the most trivial things happen to him Daichi finds himself thinking what will Suga-san’s reaction be when he tells him.

An old man stealing his bag of mochi on the train. A cute dog following him around for entire blocks after Daichi had given him a piece of his meat bun. Everything becomes a tale to tell to his pretty neighbor, who in exchange shares weird uni stories about a girl bringing her blanket to the library or about his cats, who apparently wreck havoc in Suga’s apartment, making mugs and vases fall everywhere and using Suga’s clothes as sleeping bags.

Daichi feels a familiarity when talking to Suga that he only recognizes in his oldest friendships. And he would have no problem introducing Suga as a friend now, albeit new, if not for the bone deep attraction that sets a fire burning low in his stomach every time their eyes meet.

He’ll be laughing at a joke Suga said and suddenly his eyes will fall on Suga’s lips, full and inviting. The want to simply lean down and take them in his, suck on Suga’s tongue and press their bodies impossibly close, it becomes almost unbearable at times.

But the thing is, he can’t. Because Suga has a boyfriend.

Suga never talks about him, sure, even when their conversations turn more personal, hushed words in the stairwells, Daichi never hears a name. And he’s never seen the guy either, but he knows he exists. Daichi has heard him groan more times than he’s willing to think about. If it weren’t for those times, for those moments Daichi is not even supposed to be privy to, it’d be so easy to just forget about this presence altogether. But, again, he can’t.

Suga is one huge taboo. An incredibly alluring, easy-going, lovely to be around taboo.

And like every taboo, he’s like an itch Daichi can’t scratch. Or at least, he used to be. Now Daichi fears the situation might be getting a little more complicated, as the itch seeps through and under his skin and spreads everywhere in his body. Turns into warmth.

He tries to keep it to himself, act like nothing but his underpaid job is bothering him but his friends notice. They notice and they ask, and when they receive no answers but a ‘’back off’’ they only grow more curious.

So of course when the opportunity presents itself, they grab it with both hands and invite themselves to Daichi’s house. They show up empty-handed too and when Daichi admits there’s no beer in the house they drag him to buy it with them.

Noya insists so much, too much, says Daichi needs a ‘’distraction from his pining’’ and of course Tanaka agrees. Asahi, Daichi knows, only came along to try to keep them calm, prevent them from going too far and making Daichi lose his marbles. Daichi is grateful, really, but doubts Asahi will be of any help.

The vein in his temple has been throbbing since Noya pronounced the word ‘pining’.

He is only in this for the beer, he tells himself, and plans to get shitfaced fast so he won’t be able to listen to all the bullshit his so-called friends will say.

Suga is right there in the hallway when they get back from the store. Of course he is.

He is struggling to get his door opened, his hands full of papers and books that clearly couldn’t fit in his already heavy-looking bag. Daichi climbs the last bunch of stairs two at a time and goes to help him.

Suga mustn’t have heard him coming because when Daichi makes to take the books from him he jumps three feet in the air. Then he grins. “Oh, Daichi. It’s you!”

He sounds out of breath and his cheeks are tinged pink, most likely from the effort of carrying all this stuff up nine floors. Stupid shitty elevators who never work.

He lets Daichi take some of his stuff with a grateful smile and Daichi knows he is blushing too, but for completely different reasons. He is suddenly very aware of his friends’ eyes on him, burning holes in his skin.

“You all get inside in the meantime,” he says in a rush throwing his keys to Noya, who catches them one-handed.

To no avail because Noya simply puts them in his pocket and makes his way over to introduce himself. The glint in his eyes immediately has blaring alarms going off in Daichi’s brain. The temptation to run somewhere far and take Suga with him is strong.

“Hi, i’m Noya!”

It’s too late anyway, hands are already being shaken – with a little too much enthusiasm on Noya’s part – and soon enough everyone is introducing themselves, surrounding Suga like a pack of vultures, thirsty for informations. Even Asahi.

Suga doesn’t seem bothered tho, smiles his usual warm smile, the one that shows his dimples,  and Daichi feels a twisted satisfaction when he sees his friends stare for a moment in poorly-veiled awe. Tanaka is even blushing a little.

“Nice to meet you guys, i’m Suga.”

It’s only natural, predictable, that the guys all insist Suga joins them. Suga hesitates for a moment and looks questioningly at Daichi with his beautiful doe eyes. And Daichi, Daichi wishes he could say no, no it’s a reunion between old friends, no i’m sure you’re busy, no please go to your apartment because if my friends see us together they’ll _know_ for sure that you haunt my thoughts as you gladden my dreams. But he doesn’t, it’s one more thing regarding Suga that he can’t do. So he nods, helps Suga put the books and papers away and welcomes them all to his apartment. Well, he welcomes Suga at least.

The night starts quiet but stressful, with Tanaka and Noya subjecting Suga to a real interrogatory, and completely ignoring Daichi’s warning glances.

“Where are you from?”

“How long have you lived here?”

“What’s your favourite movie?”

“Are you gay?”

It’s relentless and by the last question Daichi is ready to murder.

He seems to be worrying over nothing tho because Suga answers each question with grace and – admittedly - a good deal of beer. He drinks and subtly forces Tanaka and Noya to drink too as their questions get too personal, and soon enough everyone is more than a little tipsy.

Daichi’s already feeling kind of dizzy after three bottles – altho that might be caused by Suga’s closeness - and Tanaka and Noya are now passionately, and terribly, singing a Girls’ Generation song at the top of their lungs. They’ve stopped asking questions, at least, and when Daichi turns to look at Suga he notices a faint smirk on his face.

_So this was his plan all along_ , Daichi thinks with a good deal of admiration, _he’s truly a surprising man_. Moreover, Suga seems the most lucid of the group, just a hint of a slur betraying the alcohol in his body. When Daichi points it out, Suga laughs, loud and bright, and says “This is what eight years of uni have been teaching me, Daichi-san!”

In the end they all decide to watch a movie, and of course Nishinoya settles on Die Hard. He manages to find the copy he’d given Daichi as a present years ago and puts it on, goes to sit on the floor right in front of the TV like a little kid.

The others gravitate toward the couch and Daichi finds himself sitting on the loveseat, next to Suga. Tanaka makes a show of winking at him when he thinks Suga is not looking, and Daichi realizes, in a moment of clarity, that he’s both too drunk and too sober for this. The warmth of Suga’s body pressed against his own threatens to burn his skin.

“I don’t think i’ve ever seen this one,” Suga murmurs before taking another sip of his beer.

A drop falls from his lips and leaves a wet, sticky trail down his chin. When Suga catches it with a finger and throws a smile at him a familiar warmth spreads low in Daichi’s stomach. His throat feels dry despite all the beer and he wishes with all his heart the two of them were alone right now, so he could follow the path that fugitive drop had taken, but in reverse. Start on Suga’s chin, bite it, then assuage the sting with a kiss. Press his lips on the corner of Suga’s mouth, right on the spot where his dimple appears, and then lose himself in the warmth of Suga’s mouth, lose himself completely. Suga would sound even more beautiful, moaning under _him_.

He moves in closer, almost on instinct, and Suga looks into his eyes for a moment. Daichi doesn’t know what Suga reads in them but he leaves the beer on the floor and curls on the chair, leans on Daichi’s side.

Daichi nuzzles the sensitive skin behind Suga’s ear, and whispers “Not a big loss. It sucks.”

They are pressed so close now Daichi can feel it when Suga shivers. “What sucks?”

“The movie.”

“What movie?”

They share a soft smile.

Daichi passes an arm behind Suga’s waist, not around – not quite – and Suga rests his cheek on Daichi’s shoulder. It’s a sweet gesture, comfortable, and it lights a fire in Daichi’s chest, right where his heart is beating a too fast pace.

Daichi knows that if it wasn’t for the alcohol circulating in his body and clouding his judgement he wouldn’t have had the guts to do this much, but he hopes, he ardently hopes it had nothing to do with Suga’s decision to lean in.

For a brief moment he catches Asahi’s eyes and while the guy seems two seconds away from sleep he smiles at Daichi, with an uncharacteristic smugness. Daichi is quick to avert his gaze and hides his face in Suga’s hair.

There’s nothing to feel smug about, Daichi wants to say but when Suga all but snuggles him and closes his eyes, looking relaxed and content, Daichi too can’t bring himself to believe it.

 

Daichi wakes to a sky dark as ink on the other side of the window glass. Everybody is asleep, even Nishinoya who has collapsed on a pillow Tanaka had thrown him earlier in an attempt to shut him up.

Daichi tries to stand without jostling Suga too much but he’s only just managed to make Suga lean away, on the armrest instead of his chest, when Suga wakes. Their eyes meet and Suga’s immediately crinkle around a smile. He looks lovely in moonlight, still soft with sleep and a little lost.

“Hey.”

Daichi distractedly tucks Suga’s bangs behind his ear and his heart gives a painful pang in his chest when Suga leans into the touch. “Hey yourself.”

Tanaka lets out a loud snore and Daichi and Suga both jump at the noise, startled. And it’s like the spell was broken. Surrounded by Suga’s warmth, the delicate way his skin smells, he’d completely forgotten himself, he’d forgotten that Suga is a taken man and Daichi has absolutely no business flirting with him.

Suga had let him, tho. _Suga had let him._

“I think you should go,” Daichi says brusquely and curses himself when his voice shakes.

Suga stays silent for a moment and Daichi can feel his confusion, can hear the questions on the tip of his tongue. But Suga never voices them, he stands up, a little clumsily and follows Daichi to the door. When they stop to say goodnight his face is downturned, unusual of him who is like a sunflower, always facing the light, and his bangs fall down to shadow his eyes.

For this, at least, Daichi’s glad, he doesn’t want to know what’s in them. Because if he did, if he saw reflected in Suga’s eyes the same disappointment he feels he’s sure he couldn’t stop himself from doing something really stupid. Like taking Suga in his arms, like kissing him breathless.

And so he goes back to his apartment alone, covers Tanaka with a blanket and gives Nishinoya another pillow. He walks to his bedroom and looks at the wall that separates him from Suga. It’s only a block of concrete, it’s much more than.

 He slides down and sits on the cold linoleum floor, rests his head back on it with a small thud and stays still. After a breath or two he hears a similar sound coming from the other side. It could be anything, maybe Suga tripped or he threw something at the wall. It could be anything but Daichi can’t help but picture Suga in the same position as he is, with his head pillowed on the wall, waiting for something. Anything.

 One last moment of weakness, maybe.

 Tentatively, Daichi raises his arm and raps his knuckles on the wall. _Knock, knock, knock._

 He holds his breath as he waits, then his heart skips a beat.

_Knock, knock, knock._

One _last_ moment of weakness.

** Day 53 **

Daichi steers clear of Suga for the following week, and it’s absolute torture.

It’s shocking, really, how easily Suga got under his skin. How much Daichi has been counting on his presence, looking forward to their conversations and lighting up at the simple thought of him.

It’s shocking and maybe it’s stupid too, maybe it’s just his foolish heart speaking for him and trying desperately to rationalize but the connection he feels, the way they just click and how they’ve narrated each other, the silliest and deepest parts of their lives, it feels too real to be fake. Too real to be only in his head.

And it’s been less than two months. Daichi can’t allow himself to fall, not this fast and certainly not this hard. He is not the kind of man moved so easily by a single person, he takes time and he treads on cautious when his heart is involved. So this, whatever this is, can’t possibly be good news.

And Suga, Suga is taken. Suga let him hold him. Suga had smiled, Suga had opened himself to Daichi, Suga had made him hope. Suga keeps trying to talk to him, meet his eyes, but he is _taken_ and Daichi can’t. This, this is not good news. Nothing about this is good.

This is what he tells himself as his eyes fall, disloyal, on Suga’s closed door. Painted green, with its perfect silver tag and the messy handwriting. He stops in front of it every day for a week, but never knocks.

The turning point comes on a Thursday, with Daichi on his way to the grocery shop.

He is just stepping out of his apartment and he is slapped in the face with it. The reality of things, moving on a different plane of existence from his plans and his heart’s wishes, presenting itself in the form of Suga in the arms of another man.

They are locked in what can only be described as a passionate embrace, Suga and this man Daichi doesn’t know, never wanted to even acknowledge, and it’s like being hit by a bucket of iced water.

At first is the cold, strikes Daichi’s face with stinging force, leaving him breathless and confounded. Then comes the fleeting, raging heat, the burning of his skin threatening to leave marks and blisters but then just as it comes it’s gone and again, is the cold. Seeps through the flesh to chill his bones and all that is left for Daichi to do is shiver. And wonder why he ever let this thing go so far, when he’d always known how it would end.

So Daichi freezes, with his hand still on the doorknob. His instinct screams at him to get back inside, close the door, close them out but his body just can’t seem to respond. He watches, then, watches as Suga clings to this guy and laughs at something he says.

It’s his throaty laugh, the loud one that resonates through hallways and any other day would have made Daichi smile instantly. Daichi doesn’t smile now, he can’t, but he does wince and must make some kind of noise too because Suga and the guy break apart to look at him.

The spiteful, glaringly jealous side of Daichi points out that this guy is not even that handsome. He’s tall, sure, really tall but his shifty eyes and the line of his mouth make him look like a cross between a lizard and a cat. His red hair too catches the light in the most unusual way.

When their eyes meet the guy smirks and makes a show of looking Daichi up and down. There’s an intrigued glint in his gaze.

“So this is him, Suga-chan.”

_Suga-chan._

Suga puts a hand on the guy’s arm and gives him a warning glare, his eyes on fire. Daichi is not sure that rage is really, only directed at the guy. “Tendou, please.”

“And by ‘him’ you mean…?” Daichi hears it clear as day, the aggressive note in his voice, but he is past the point of caring. The way this guy – Tendou – is looking at him, like he’s silently mocking him, like he knows something Daichi ignores, rubs him the wrong way. Everything about this rubs him the wrong way and he’s too tired to fake it isn’t so.

Tendou smiles at him, razor-sharp and friendly as a blade to the neck. “Suga-chan’s new neighbor of course.”

“Of course,” Daichi echoes him.

He feels hot all over, again.

Suga huffs audibly and for the first time today – for the first time in _days_ – Daichi allows his eyes to fall on Suga’s figure, and linger. There’s a bright, red flush high on his cheeks and he’s pouting too, his hands planted firmly on his hips. “Are you two peacocks done showing off your trains?”

Daichi and Tendou both raise an eyebrow at him and he beats his foot on the floor petulantly. It’s adorable and Daichi’s heart begins to ache.

“You both know what i mean, come on.”

They do and Daichi at least has the conscience to look a little ashamed. It’s not the first time Suga has called him out on his ‘’pointless machismo’’and the picture he makes now must be more than a little pathetic. Not that Suga is looking at him now in any case. Tendou, on the other hand, just shrugs his shoulders and sends a wink Suga’s way, unapologetic and unashamed.

“Well, at least _this_ is a good enough reason,” he says cryptically and Suga blushes all the way up to his hair. Daichi looks from him to Tendou and knows he’s missing something here, something important, but he can’t for the life of him figure out what.

The tension in Suga’s stance gives him no clues.

Then Tendou leans down to press a kiss on Suga’s cheek and now, finally, Daichi looks away. He must. He busies himself with the keys and almost breaks the key in halves in the lock. He throws a flat, hurried greeting their way through grinded teeth and – there’s no other way to put it – runs away. Or tries to, at least.

Unexpectedly, Tendou follows him down the narrow hallway. “Goodbye, Suga-chan. It’s been fun,” he sing-songs.

Suga tuts at him, calls out one last time, “It’s hardly  farewell, jeez,” and to the sound of Tendou’s laughter he finally closes the door behind him.

Silence settles, deafening, and Tendou’s eyes shift, burn holes in Daichi’s back. Daichi starts walking faster.

Tendou on his part seems to be hellbent in prolonging Daichi’s and his own awkwardly tense agony and reaches his side in three steps. Daichi silently curses those obnoxiously long legs of his. When their shoulders brush they are both too quick to move away and throw each other a withering glare.

Daichi feels 17 all over again, fighting with the basketball captain and accidentally setting off the fire alarm.

They’re already halfway down the stairs when Tendou speaks. “He broke it off, you know.”

Daichi almost misses a step as his heart executes an unexpected somersault. He grips the rail, breathless, and coughs to cover his shaky sigh, his shaky whole. Squares his shoulders in an attempt to save some dignity. Feigns ignorance. But he knows his blush will betray him anyway.

“Broke off what?”

Tendou stares at him briefly and his eyes almost seem to flash red as his hair for a moment. “You know what, and you also know why. And if you really, honestly don’t then you’re even dumber than you look.”

Daichi makes to reply, maybe flip the guy off but Tendou walks past him and jumps the stairs three at a time. He’s gone before Daichi can even blink, and it’s only then that Daichi realizes he hasn’t heard Suga have sex in weeks. God, how weird does this sentence sound even in his head. But the relief he feels, that’s not weird at all.

 

Later in the evening, on his way to bed, Daichi stands in front of the wall and knocks three times. Then he waits, and waits.

No one answers.

 

** Day 61/62 **

Work is hectic the next few days. The law firm has landed a big case and Daichi is forced to do extra hours for an entire week. When he’s not at work he sleeps or tries his hardest not to think about how messed up his and Suga’s situation has become.

They greet each other when they cross paths but it’s always awkward and stunted, even worse than their first tentative interactions. On his part Daichi always seems to be running out of time, on his way to work or run some errands, but he has no excuses for the evenings he spends alone. The want to cross the hallway and knock on Suga’s door instead of on the wall that stands tall between them, it’s there but for every step he takes he’s reminded of the way Suga looks at him now, guarded and a little sad. And that is enough to stop him.

He’d pushed Suga away, he’d done it. But he’d thought, he’d honestly thought he had good reasons to. Maybe, he should have simply talked. He should have asked if Suga was taken, he should have trusted the fact that if Suga hadn’t been talking about whatever the thing between him and Tendou was because there was really nothing much to talk about. Maybe, simply, Daichi should have tried.

He should have, and he still can.

He _will_ , soon.

 

Daichi is on his way to bed, finally at the end of the week from hell, and lets out a soft groan of pleasure at the softness of his pillow. This, of course, is the moment the fire alarm decides to go off.

For a moment Daichi considers ignoring it, this building is old as dirt so the fire alarm probably is too, and might be just as moody as the elevator. But then again the just as real prospect that it might not be a false alarm, the prospect of dying here alone, in his bed, leaving this thing with Suga unfinished, is just too depressing.

So Daichi grabs his phone, a coat, and runs outside. The guy that lives upstairs is just on his way down and when Daichi asks if he knows something, he swallows, a little pale in the face, and says it’s an apartment on the 13th floor.

“It’s legit dude,” he mutters and in the face of such panick Daichi believes it.

In two steps he crosses the hallway and bangs on Suga’s door. “Suga! Wake up, Suga!”

Suga opens up almost immediately and without saying a word he pushes Miss Chanandler Bong in Daichi’s arms. Regina is already near and when Suga tells her to stay put she goes to stand near Daichi’s feet like a good little soldier.

“You go ahead Daichi!”

Suga limits himself to say and gets back inside swiftly.  Daichi doesn’t even need to ask why, he just ignores Suga’s words, stands there and waits, a lump in his throat. It doesn’t take long for Suga to come back with Mister Whiskerson perched on his shoulder but it might as well have been eons, the weight on Daichi’s chest growing heavier and heavier with each beat of his heart.

“I thought i told you to go ahead!”

“As if i’d leave you here. Besides, you’re not the boss of me!”

They are flying down the stairs with Suga ahead, but Daichi can see the curve of his cheek, the shadow of a dimple that suggests a fleeting smile. It’s enough, for now.

Half the building is already out on the opposite side of the street, all huddling close, together, with their noses in the air.

Daichi and Suga go stand on the side and let the cats down, all strength leaving them when the adrenaline rush abruptly ends. The cats, on their part, never leave their sides and keep rubbing their little faces against their calves, probably – no, surely – sensing their distress.

Nothing can really be seen from the outside, there are no dramatic licks of flame sprouting from windows, but it’s still chilling, having to wait in the cold to know if you’ll have a place to stay, a home to come back to tomorrow.

The firefighters arrive quickly and soon what Daichi hopes are the last people get escorted outside. A young firefighter with a round face that makes him look fresh out of high school stands in front of them all to stop people from running back inside and keeps them informed the entire time.

The fire has been contained, he says. The damage should only involve the 13th floor but it’s too early to say for sure. Everyone has been evacuated. Call your friends and family, or a hotel, make sure you have a place to stay in case inspection for damages drags on.

It’s all standard talk but the situation doesn’t seem to be bad.

Between all the commotion tho, the worry, the hushed whispers, Daichi notices the way Suga shivers with each blow of late autumn wind. In his haste to look for and gather his cats he’d forgotten to grab a coat. Daichi doesn’t need to think much about it, thinking too much is what put them in this situation in the first place, as he steps behind Suga and takes him in his arms.

It feels like that time on Daichi’s loveseat, with Die Hard playing in the background. Suga’s skin is cold to the touch now, but the lavender scent of his hair is beautifully familiar and so is the way he fits in Daichi’s arms. Effortless.

They don’t say much, they don’t talk about any of the things that hang heavy between them. But for one thing, that Suga mutters to the midnight sky. “We weren’t together, Tendou and i, i mean. It was just a thing…”

He lets the sentence drift away with the wind and there’s no real need to finish it anyway.

So they just stand in the cold, and wait. It’s a moment, brought by the need for comfort and closeness. A moment, nothing more. Except, for Daichi, it’s everything. The confirmation he’d so desperately needed.

The sun is peeking through the lower condominiums when the firefighters let them all get back inside. The building is secure, they assure everyone, the only apartment damaged was the one where the fire had started.

Daichi walks Suga to his apartment, Miss Chanandler Bong again left to his care to climb the stairs, and when Suga softly wishes him goodnight, an almost shy look in his eyes, Daichi knows it’s time. Time he takes that one last step. Or maybe, it’s only the first.

He goes back to his own apartment, only for a second, and grabs the bouquet of violets he’d bought just yesterday morning, on his way to work. Changes the water, puts them back in the vase and his hands don’t shake when he reaches out to stroke a petal.

_Honesty_.

He steps outside, on the hallway, again, and lays them down in front of Suga’s door.

And now is the wait, but soon is the future.

 

Suga comes knock on Daichi’s door in the early afternoon, quick and a little frantic. Daichi almost trips on his own two feet in his haste to answer.

Suga has the vase of violets in his hands and his hair is a mess, his clothes all wrinkled, he even has a pillow crease on his cheek. And he’s never looked more beautiful than he does in this moment, staring up at Daichi with hope dancing in his eyes of copper and gold.

“What are you-” his voice breaks as excitement takes over, so he clears his throat and tries again. His grip on the vase is so tight his fingertips are turning white.

“What are _you_ being honest about, Daichi?”

And Daichi could answer many things, he could recite a whole speech, ten minutes long, explaining all the things he’s done wrong in these past two months. He could tell Suga how he feels, try with him to make sense of every action, of every glance they’ve ever shared. But now, now that they are here, without walls standing tall between them, there’s only one thing really that Daichi can do, that he _needs_ to do.

So he snatches the vase from Suga’s hold and places it gently on the floor. Then, with a smile, he takes Suga in his arms and kisses him deep, kisses him slow.

 

** Day 74 **

Kissing Suga is like falling underwater. Daichi can’t hear anything, he can’t see anything that is not him, all sounds muffled but the moans that leave Suga’s lips, all sights blurred but the features of Suga’s face, the shape of his eyes, the moles scattered on his body.

Kissing Suga is being alight within. It starts slow, his nearness warming Daichi’s insides like a fireplace does a room, comforting in its safety. Then Suga touches him just so, moves a little too close, and it’s burning heat that devours him, consumes him.

Daichi presses Suga against his apartment door and leaves a trail of hot, wet kisses down his neck. He sucks on the pulse point and when Suga whimpers low in throat he unconsciously starts grinding his hips in search for friction.

The bloody elevator dings, and in one quick motion they move away.

Daichi couldn’t tell who it is he is greeting, focused as he is on the crimson of Suga’s cheeks, but he knows they need to get inside before somebody calls the police on them and gets them arrested for public indecency.

“Do you want to come in?”

Suga looks him up and down and even through the slight daze of want his eyes are almost frighteningly intense and sharp. His breath is coming out a little shallow.

“I want you,” he answers, with disarming honesty, and Daichi’s cock gives an insistent twitch in his pants.

They kiss again, and Suga turns it languid, the way he licks in Daichi’s mouth almost lazy. Then he breaks away, and walks to his apartment. He raises a finger, “Wait just one second, ok?”

All Daichi can do is nod, so he opens the door to his own flat and makes himself comfortable. Well, as comfortable as he can when sporting a semi. He toes off his shoes, throws his jacket on a chair and runs a hand through his hair, in a show of nerves.

Yes, he’s nervous. Of course he’s nervous. This would be the first time they…

And he can’t mess it up. These past few days have been…wonderful, to say the least. And this, this needs to go well. Better than well.

All of a sudden Daichi hears a thud coming from Suga’s apartment. He makes his way to the bedroom and calls out “You ok there?”

A stream of curses then Suga answers, a little out breath, “Yeah fine, i just tripped.”

Daichi might not be the only one who’s nervous and this, more than anything, helps him calm down a little.

Suga appears again just as Daichi is starting to fiddle a little with his cuffs. He closes the door behind him with a small, apologetic smile and walks into Daichi’s arms. “Sorry, Mister Whiskerson seemed dead set on coming with me…”

Daichi throws a worried glance behind Suga’s shoulders. “But he didn’t, right?”

Suga smacks him playfully, and hard, on the arm. “Of course not, as if i would ever let my child watch me have sex.”

Daichi snorts, cat people really are weird, and captures Suga’s lips with his own again. He starts slow, almost tentative, but when Suga melts into his body he holds him tighter to his chest and sneaks a hand under Suga’s thin shirt.

His skin is soft and warm under Daichi’s fingertips and breaks in goosebumps at the most simple touch. Daichi is having a hard time keeping his composure and show some decency when all he really wants is rip Suga’s clothes right off.

“Mmm.”

Especially when Suga makes such delightful noises.

They part for air, and Suga’s breath is warm on Daichi’s lips. His hands fall from Daichi’s hair and start undoing the buttons of his shirt.

“What were you doing, you know, before?” Daichi asks, a way to recollect his thoughts.

Suga shrugs and bites his lip, eyes fixed on Daichi’s heaving chest. “There’s no way to get out of a binder sexily,” he answers simply, “or, if there is, i still haven’t found it.”

Daichi nods but his thoughts scatter again when Suga drags his hands down his torso. His palms are warm against Daichi’s skin but his fingertips are as cold as usual, tickling the centre of Daichi’s chest where a patch of dark hair is.

“You are so unbelievably _hot_ ,” Suga breathes against Daichi’s neck, nails tracing the lines of Daichi’s abs and making Daichi’s insides quiver.

The shirt falls on the floor and Suga steps away from him for a moment to just stare. Daichi is not one who feels easily self-conscious but the way Suga is looking at him now, the way his dark eyes are caressing every inch of Daichi’s skin like his hands just did, it makes a lump form in Daichi’s throat. It’s quick, realizing that it’s the words he so wants to say that make it hard for him to breath.

But he simply moves his hands on Suga’s waist and jokes “Now it’s your turn.”

He presses a kiss on Suga’s cheek, right on the mole near his eye, and then one on the corner of his mouth. Suga follows his touch and helps him undo the buttons when Daichi’s fingers start to shake. They do it together then, Suga’s hands warm on Daichi’s and with every inch of skin that gets revealed Daichi’s heart starts beating a little faster.

Under the cold lights of Daichi’s apartment Suga is _blinding_ and when they finally, _finally_ reach the bedroom and get to lie down Daichi counts ten, eleven moles just on Suga’s stomach. There are a couple more on the elegant line of his collarbones. Daichi traces them all with his mouth, with his fingers, as Suga shivers beneath him.

“ _Daichi…_ ”

Suga’s hands fly to the waistband of Daichi’s pants and when he drags down the fly they cup Daichi’s cock through his underwear. White spots appear behind Daichi’s closed eyelids and he moves in Suga’s touch, a breathless groan leaving his chest.

He tries to get his pants off hastily, in quick, sharp tugs, and almost falls off the bed. Suga catches him by the arm and then almost lets him fall again when a startled laugh shakes him. Daichi wants to be embarrassed, in any other occasion – with any other person - he’s sure he would have been but now all he can do is laugh too at his own clumsiness.

They just laugh and laugh, for a minute or maybe two, foreheads touching and fingers linked and Daichi has never felt this happy, this at peace before.

Suga helps him out of the tangle of his pants and then throws them away, on the other side of the room. He teases a finger down Daichi’s hipbone, a light smirk on his face. “Now, do i need to teach you how to take off your boxers too?”

Daichi snorts and shuts him up with another kiss. The boxers are off in one swift move.

“ _Goodness gracious_.”

Now Daichi does blush. “Suga, come on…”

Suga looks up at his face again, with clear difficulty, and turns a bright red. “Yeah sorry it’s just, you know, _holy shit_.”

Daichi falls silent and pointedly tugs at the pants Suga _is still wearing_. Suga gives him a brief nod and goes to stand near the edge of the bed so he can undress quicker, but Daichi bats his hands away in an instant.

“Let me.”

He starts pressing more kisses on the tender skin of Suga’s stomach, mouth at his sharp hipbones. His hands follow the lines of Suga’s waist, of his back, and for a moment Daichi loses himself in the feeling, in the sweet scent of Suga’s skin. Then he licks the dip of Suga’s navel and Suga tugs at his hair, hard, and waiting is not something either of them can do anymore.

With a quick shared nod Daichi drags both Suga’s pants and underwear down. And Suga is naked now before Daichi’s eyes and Daichi’s heart threatens to explode in his chest.

He is so unbelievably beautiful.

Daichi reaches out and Suga puts a hand in his, links their fingers together and lets himself be pulled back to bed, back in Daichi’s arms.

Daichi moves a hand between Suga’s legs and works him loose with fingers and tongue, until Suga is panting and following Daichi’s movements with his hips.

“ _Daichi, oh god, Daichi…_ ”

His thighs are clenched tight around Daichi’s head and squeezing and Daichi _loves_ it. He loves how responsive Suga is, he loves the way Suga calls his name, like a prayer but much sweeter, like a song but more melodious. He loves the mole high on Suga’s inner thigh, impossible to see unless you are standing between his legs. He loves.

“Daichi, come on…”

Suga is tugging at his hair again, tapping on his shoulder with impatient insistence and when Daichi raises his head to meet his eyes again he looks _wrecked_. He puts a condom in Daichi’s hand and asks where he keeps the lube. His voice is rough and his accent thicker, his usual slight drag of vowels more pronounced.

Daichi props himself on his knees and looks around in his bedside drawer. When he takes out a bottle, newly bought and still with the cap sealed, Suga takes a moment to raise a surprised eyebrow at him, but opens it silently and helps Daichi with the condom. He gives Daichi’s cock a gentle squeeze, teasingly moves his hand up and down his length and at Daichi’s glare he just smile innocently.

“Just helping lubing you up.”

Daichi moves to lean over him but Suga stops him quick with a hand on his chest and flips them around. All of a sudden Daichi can’t breathe.

“Lean back on the headboard, Dai,” Suga says and Daichi doesn’t think even for a second to protest, the firmness in Suga’s voice makes his cock throb.

Then Suga climbs on his lap.

They just stare at each other for a moment and Suga leans down to kiss him on the lips. It’s unexpectedly sweet, and tender, Suga’s mouth simply caressing Daichi’s, tickling. His hand closes around Daichi’s cock again and slowly he lowers himself on it.

Burning heat, that’s all Daichi can feel for a while. He groans low in his throat and passes an arm around Suga’s waist to hold him closer. To ground himself, to remember where he is and who he’s with. He hides his face in the crook of Suga’s neck and tries to stay still, as his instincts scream at him to move and fuck into Suga hard.

He never wants to leave this place.

Suga takes a moment to adjust, his breath laboured and breaking on Daichi’s skin, his hands shaky but strong on Daichi’s shoulders. Then he nods, to himself or at Daichi, Daichi is not sure, and presses a kiss on Daichi’s temple. He props himself on his legs and starts moving. Slow at first, almost tentative, then more confident, faster.

Daichi digs his fingers in the flesh of Suga’s waist and meets him halfway in all his gestures, pleasure building up with every heartbeat.

Soon they find a rhythm, their rhythm, and the skin of Daichi’s shoulders almost breaks under Suga’s nails. He thrusts up into Suga with more force and Suga clamps hard around him, around his cock.

“ _Fuck, Daichi_.”

Daichi teases Suga’s nipples, takes them in his mouth and sucks and Suga makes a high, keening noise in his throat. It fills the air, bounces off the walls. Beautiful, clear, needy.

Daichi is close, he knows he is, his whole body is trembling with the build-up of his orgasm and his skin feels too tight for his body, too tight to contain all the things he feels. He looks up, to Suga’s face, and finds him already staring at him, eyes dark and tender, so luminous they seem to shine of their own light.

Daichi trails a hand down Suga’s stomach, and lower still, to reach the point where they are joined together and thumbs at his sweet spot softly. Does it until Suga’s hips start moving free from any beat, free from any rhythm, and his eyes fall shut and his breath comes out only in moans.

Suga comes with a quiet whimper and Daichi’s name on his lips, squeezing impossibly tight around Daichi’s cock and making him curse between his teeth. He leans heavily on Daichi’s body then, exhausted and sweaty, and impossibly lovely, and cups Daichi’s face in his hands, kisses everywhere his mouth can reach.

And his hips never stop moving, lazy now, swiveling slightly.

“Come now, Daichi,” he whispers against Daichi’s lips and tugs hard on his hair.

He clenches around Daichi one more time and it’s all it takes to send Daichi over the brink. Daichi groans, deep from his chest, and comes inside Suga as the world turns black and white and red.

For a moment they just breath, foreheads pressed together and hearts beating wildly inside their chests – they are so close Daichi can feel they are in sync too.

He never wants to leave, he never wants to leave.

They are quick to pull away, to discard the condom and get a little cleaned up, but just as quick to settle back again in each other’s arms.

Suga steals another kiss, quick, and Daichi takes advantage of their closeness to pull him down with him, make him rest on his chest. Suga complies, soft with contentment and warm, and hugs Daichi’s waist loosely.

Daichi never wants to leave this place.

Silence falls between them, tender, and it’s the quiet ease of knowing things are finally falling into place, it’s the golden comfort that can be found only in the space of their togetherness.

 

_3 years later_

 

** Day 1 **

The house is lovely. Spacious, but not overly so, and built in traditional japanese style. The garden that surrounds it is poorly kept but sunny and when Daichi sees a patch of violets growing wildly in a corner he knows it’s the one. It’s their house.

The way Suga is smiling is a good sign too. His eyes are dancing in excitement, a triumph of gold.

As soon as the realtor leaves Daichi walks up to him and hugs him from behind, wraps his arms around his waist and nuzzles the sensitive skin behind his ear.

“So?”

“ _So?_ Daichi, it’s perfect.”

Daichi sighs in relief and presses a kiss on Suga’s hair. “It is.”

“Big too, lots of extra rooms…”

“We’ll invite lots of guests.”

Suga turns his face a little to look him in the eyes. “That’s not quite what i had in mind.”

And unbridled the picture comes, forms itself at once in the back of Daichi’s mind: the two of them standing in this same room, playing peek-a-boo with a child with Suga’s eyes. Setting up a net in the backyard and teaching their kids – now they are two, or maybe three – how to set and spike. Suga walking down the long, narrow hallway that gives to the master bedroom rocking a newborn baby to sleep.

It all looks so clear, painted in pastel hues, and he finds this want reflected back in Suga’s eyes. Mirrors of his own.

He looks away for a moment and tries to swallow down the lump of emotion in his throat. “Yeah, you’re right, not just guests…”

Suga smiles and it’s slow, soft like the light playing with his hair. Daichi can’t not kiss him now, here.

So he does, and lingers, and they share a breath, a moment.

When he finally moves away, he says “I’ll go talk to the guy, tell him we’re interested.”

He’s almost to the door when Suga speaks again. “You know, i’m going to miss living in the building from hell.”

“Me too.”

And Daichi is surprised as he realizes the honesty in Suga’s words, in his own.

But they’d found happiness in that place, between old, crusty walls made of paper, and in moody elevators. They found it, and they’ll carry it with them, in two weeks when there’ll be nothing left of that building but ashes and empty spaces. They’ll carry it with them, to a house with wooden floors and violets in the garden, and here they’ll put down roots.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was meant to be for Valentine's Day but then of course it blew up so...  
> Anyway, a couple of things  
> \- Suga is totally lying about the hatch to calm Daichi down  
> \- Hanakotoba is the japanese language of flowers  
> \- Mochi is a japanese rice cake  
> \- Mondler is the best
> 
> Also, i have a [tumblr](http://thewindraiser.tumblr.com/) and a [twitter](https://twitter.com/JKNo_emi) so feel free to come yell at me about Daisuga whenever.


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